The Carter Center's independent study mission to Venezuela today released a pre-electoral report (PDF), which assesses the preparations for key elements of the process including voter registration, campaign conditions, voting conditions, integrity of the vote count, and the dispute resolution process.

"There is great hemispheric interest in the Venezuelan presidential elections," said Jennifer McCoy, director of the Carter Center's Americas Program. "We hope to provide useful information to the international community, based on the assessments reported to us by Venezuelans and reports we gather in country about the process."

Ahead of Oct. 7 presidential elections, the Center's mission is following the campaign, with political and electoral analysts interviewing political actors and technical experts on the ground.

The Center also will send a small group of experts to Venezuela during the week of the elections to interview political actors and voters around the country before and after the elections, but not enter voting centers. The group includes former Peruvian Election Chief Fernando Tuesta, former Bolivian Ambassador Jaime Aparicio, Argentine Constitutional Law Professor and Electoral Advisor to the Buenos Aires Province Carlos Safadi, Mexican Professor and Electoral Law Expert Hector Diaz, and Jennifer McCoy.

In February 2012, the Center sent a study mission to the opposition primaries, and has had long-term consultants based in Caracas since May to follow election preparations and campaign conditions, collecting reports from Venezuelan organizations monitoring the campaign and interviewing officials from both presidential campaigns, as well as various social and political actors. In addition, the Center is conducting three snapshot media monitoring exercises to assess campaign news coverage - a pre-election baseline in May, mid-campaign assessment in early August, and a final assessment the last week of the campaign through Oct. 10.

"In elections with such high national interest and emotions, we highlight the important role of national electoral and security authorities, as well as political leaders and their supporters, to assure a peaceful election day and day after, and call on them to process any complaints through established dispute resolution procedures," said McCoy.

Because The Carter Center does not have an election observation mission in Venezuela, it will not provide a comprehensive assessment of the quality of the electoral process as a whole. Instead, the Center will issue a report following the election based on interviews, reports of national observer organizations, analysis of Venezuelan laws and regulations, and personal observations over the five-month period.

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A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 70 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers in developing nations to increase crop production. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.